“Do all things in moderation”
Good morning Zebras,
I did a search on today’s verse only to find
it is not contained in the Bible. Figuring
I had gotten some of the words wrong I shortened my search to “moderation.” But when it came back with zero results I was
surprised and confused. The word “moderation”
is not found in modern Bibles.
But I’m not the only one. I went on Google and put in the phrase “do
all things in moderation” and came up with a lot of hits, mostly related to
what does the Bible say about moderation?
My favorite one said that we are like the guy in Princess Bride who kept
saying “Inconceivable.” We don’t’ really
understand what the word means. And he
also gave the following history of the phrase:
moderation in all things proverbial saying,
mid-19th Century; a more recent formulation of the idea contained in there is
measure in all things. The essential thought is found in the work of the Greek
poet Hesiod (c.700
bc), ‘observe due measure; moderation is best in all things’, and of the Roman
comic dramatist Plautus (c.250–184
bc), ‘moderation in all things is the best policy.’ (Knowles)
All of which got me thinking...what does the
Bible say?
It says not to sin and even a moderate amount
of something God has called sin, is sin.
Adam and Eve learned that the hard way.
And it says to exercise self-control because even those things God has
given us for our enjoyment like sex, eating, talking, and relaxing can rapidly deteriorate
into sin when done incorrectly or in excess.
Too much eating becomes gluttony, no matter
what you’re eating; incorrect use of the tongue results in complaining, gossip and
slander; too much rest and relaxation and you become a lazy fool and a sloth. And although sex is one of the pleasures of being
married outside of marriage it can go horribly wrong.God does not tell us to do things in moderation, He tells us to do everything as if we are doing it for Him and only you and He knows what that looks like in your life.
Love,
Jill
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